Helicopters Drop Emergency Supplies For Indonesian Quake Victims

[News_Editor]

Helicopters drop emergency supplies for Indonesian quake victims < br />

2012-08-22 06:56:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

PALU, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- Helicopters on Tuesday dropped food and emergency supplies in a remote region of northern Indonesia after a strong earthquake struck the area on late Saturday, destroying scores of houses and triggering landslides which have cut off villages from the outside world.

Small roads leading to a number of remote villages remain blocked as heavy equipment such as trucks and bulldozers are working to clear the path for rescue teams. Two helicopters carried out thirteen flights on Tuesday to drop basic food and emergency supplies for villagers, which should be enough for at least five days.

A spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said five people have been confirmed killed as of Tuesday, of whom four died in Lindu District and one in Kulawi District. Both districts are in Sigi Regency in Central Sulawesi province. A total of 42 people have also been injured, including seventeen people who were seriously injured and 25 people who suffered minor injuries.

But because fourteen villages remain cut off from the outside world, the full extent of the damage remains unclear and authorities are not sure if additional casualties will be found. Rescue crews have so far found 165 houses which were destroyed, 120 houses which sustained moderate to serious damage, and 186 houses which suffered minor damage.

Many people have fled their homes, displacing at least 344 families who have been taken to emergency shelters which have been set up in houses which were not damaged. In addition to the damage to houses, one church sustained serious damage, two churches were slightly damaged, three mosques were slightly damaged, and two school buildings also suffered minor damage.

"Most of the houses were destroyed because the buildings did not meet the standards," the BNPB spokesman said. He said 310 military personnel have been deployed to the area to assist rescue teams, which consist of numerous employees and volunteers from a number of agencies.

The disaster happened at 5:41 p.m. local time (0941 GMT) on Saturday when a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck about 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) southeast of Sigi Biromaru, the main town of Sigi Regency in Central Sulawesi province. It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the country's seismological agency.

Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries in the region, killing at least 227,898 people.

Most recently, on April 11, five people were killed and several others were injured when two massive earthquakes struck off the west coast of northern Sumatra. The earthquakes, with magnitudes 8.6 and 8.2, prompted a local tsunami warning, causing scores of people to flee to higher ground. Small tsunami waves were observed, but no major damage was reported.

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